Hi Guys;While playing Kayada, I have great problem in creating "spontaneous new paltas" in dugun. While writing them down first, reciting and playing is hard way, it is not "natural" way. I think when paltas come out of mind naturally, your playing is automatically improved. I am trying hard since many months, but not good success yet.Any inputs/ideas on this?...I have about 3 years of experience of playing tabla.__________________Regards;Taal

The number one key to spontaneous kaida playing, as I've been saying a lot recently, is that one has to have a definite theory to how you're going to generate new paltas. Mine is obvious: take a certain bol or concept in the kaida, develop that completely, and then move on to another concept. Or look at it this way: rather than make variations upon the theme, make variations of variations. Memorize maybe four paltas, but let each of those paltas spawn new ones. This helps to keep your thoughts and ideas focused, and makes the act of palta generation much easier and more straightforward.

Basically, I think there comes a point where instead of learning new paltas, a tabla player has to develop a method to approaching kaida that allows you to play any kaida, regardless of whether or not you've learned variations. When I was taught kaidas I was not given paltas, I was only given the theme, but when you have your system down that's all you need.

Crap, I'm rambling. :roll: Tell you what, try this: the next time you play a kaida, play a certain palta (one you've been taught) and stick with it for a bit. Play it maybe five, ten times, or however long you need to. While you're doing this, try and get into the mood of that palta; think hard about just one thing you want to change. remember that so long as you obey certain universal rules (don't add new bols, etc.), you can't make a wrong palta. But just like that, think of one thing to change, then when you have it, play it and again stick with your new palta for a while. Ask yourself: does this work? Does it sound like it's supposed to? If so, then repeat the process again. Don't hurry through this process. The point is to explore the kaida. You won't necessarily walk the same path twice, but you will start to get an idea of what the kaida is possible of, and then you will draw upon this when you play in performance. You may discover fifty variations but you'll only need ten, and you, the artist, will get to decide in the moment which ten you're going to play. This process will also help you to memorize the direction you took and lead you towards a unique and personal approach to kaida development. You're going to play a palta again and think to yourself, "okay, what did I do last time? Oh yeah, next I put this "dha" here!"

This is how I came up with all those paltas for my tete kaida. I didn't actually practice that, but I just sat at the computer and followed the same pattern I would take during practice. I wrote a palta and decided what to do next, and like that I came up with some fifteen variations and hardly scratched the surface. So it can be done! You're only been playing for three years, so you've got plenty of time to develop these concepts. 8) Hope this helps.

The following are just a few suggestions - I don't claim to be of the experience to teach, preach, or patronise...

"I am trying hard since many months, but not good success yet. Any inputs/ideas on this?...I have about 3 years of experience of playing tabla."

My adivce would be to take paltas from your teacher, and to really pay attention to the way they are developed, what bols are emphasised, etc. After all, their variations will be more relevent to the character and points of emphasis of the particular composition. I suppose this isn't important with beginners' kaidas, but often other factors, such as the origin or gharana of the kaida are important.

Ultimately you may or may not be concerned with stuff like this... which is ok, as kaidas are good tools for practice anyway.

In terms of spontanious creation, I suppose it is just achieving the correct mixture of logic, musicality and imagination! And, as boring as writing the kaida out with a pen and paper may seem, maybe it would be a good way to recognise patterns and trends to exploit?

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